News

Georgia taps Lagrange Police to help in fight against gangsFebruary 20, 2018
The LaGrange Police Department and Troup County District Attorney's Office are leading the way in the fight against gangs and the state of Georgia plans to ask for assistance.
Formulytics, a Georgia-based software company that assists state and local law enforcement, jails, and district attorneys in the tracking and prosecution of violent criminal gang members oversees expanding the capabilities of law enforcement and prosecutors through specialized technology and training to help in the fight against gangs in Georgia.
Read more here... [WTVM]

Man sentenced for 2016 armed robberyDecember 12, 2017
Daniel Warren Harris pled guilty Tuesday morning to charges of a gang act and aggravated assault after taking part in an armed robbery on Feb. 4, 2016. According to Assistant District Attorney James Powers, Harris was sentenced to 35 years to serve 20 years.
Read more here... [LaGrange Daily News]

GuiltyOctober 27, 2017
It took a Coweta County jury less than four hours on Thursday to find Willie Louis Turner II guilty of murder.
The 12 jurors found Turner guilty on all three counts against him: malice murder, felony murder and possession of a firearm by a convicted felon.Turner hung his head as the verdict was read aloud in the courtroom.
Read more here... [Newnan Times-Herald]

Child molester was 'grooming' underage girl, prosecutors sayOctober, 2017
A Coweta man accused of child molestation will now spend the next 25 years behind bars.
Earlier this week, Brian Keith Thrailkill, 47, pleaded guilty to three counts of aggravated child molestation. In the state of Georgia, the charge of aggravated child molestation carries a minimum sentence of 25 years in prison with no eligibility for parole.
Read more here... [Newnan Times-Herald]

Caldwell enters guilty pleaSeptember 29, 2017
Terry Lee Caldwell, 62, entered a negotiated guilty plea to aggravated assault on a peace officer and possession of a firearm last week in Coweta Judicial Circuit Court.
Judge Travis Sakrison sentenced Caldwell to 25 years to serve 12 years in prison, according to the press release.
Read more here... [LaGrange Daily News]

District Attorney's Office Delivers Backpacks to TCSSAugust 28, 2017
That time of the year has once again come and gone where kids are headed back to school. Now that school is back in session, students are settling back into their routines. However, this transition is not always so easy for some as many students will start back to school without the supplies they need. Some will even start without a backpack at all. The local District Attorney's office and especially Assistant District Attorney's Drew Case and Brett Adams, have been on a mission to collect backpacks and supplies for children in need. Their movement, now entering its second year, is called Backpacks 4 Kids and this year, they delivered a large number of backpacks to the Troup County School System....
Read more here...(login required) [Troup County News]

Man gets life sentence for 2016 murderAugust 25, 2017
Jerry Carston was found guilty of murder Thursday, Aug. 24 at Troup County Superior Court, according to assistant district attorney James Powers. The court sentenced him to life plus 45 years for a shooting that occurred in 2016.
Carston, 16, was charged as an adult for shooting Quentin Williams on North Cary Street in July 2016, Powers said....
Read more here... [LaGrange Daily News]

Dozens arrested on probation violations at 'Welcome home' from prison partyJune 19, 2017
More than two dozen men were arrested Saturday at a Coweta County sports bar that officials had been investigating for months.
Montel Whitaker, a local rapper recently released from prison, was at the Hoops Bar and Grill on Old Corinth Road in Newnan when about 30 law enforcement officers raided the club, Channel 2 Action News reported....
Read more here... [The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]

Man pleads guilty, sentenced in vehicular-homicide caseJune 16, 2017
A man twice convicted of vehicular homicide in only four years is now heading to prison.
Taylor Patrick Long pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide, hit and run, driving under the influence and reckless driving in a negotiated plea before Judge Emory Palmer.
Long, 22, was sentenced to 20 years to serve 15 years in prison for his role in the fatal car crash that took the life of his girlfriend, Victoria "Tori" Clanton, last November....
Read more here... [Newnan Times-Herald]

Man sentenced to 20 years for domestic violenceJune 16, 2017
A Coweta man was sentenced to 20 years in prison for a domestic violence against his wife.
Matthew Adam Sells, 34, was given a 40 year sentence, with 20 years to serve in prison, in Coweta County Superior Court this week. The second 20 years will be served on probation....
Read more here... [Newnan Times-Herald]

Beasley sentenced to 25 yearsJune 4, 2017
Frederick Evan Beasley, 37, will spend the next 25 years locked up in a state prison.
The man was sentenced in late May for his role in a shooting that was also an alleged gang "hit."
Through a negotiated plea deal with the Troup County District Attorney"s Office, Beasley was supposed to serve less time behind bars - 30 years to serve 10 years as a recidivist.
That sentence was conditional on his testimony during Roger Lee Ransom II's trial.
But the 37-year-old man did not uphold his end of the bargain. Beasley changed his story the night before he was set to testify against co-defendant Ransom II, 35....
Read more here... [LaGrange Daily News]

Jury finds man guilty of vehicular homicideMay 24, 2017
It took a jury less than 90 minutes on Wednesday to convict the man accused of killing two people when he traveled the wrong way down Interstate 185.
Humphrey Kisia Semo was found guilty on all five counts against him inside a Troup County Superior Courtroom.
The man was charged with two counts of homicide by vehicle, serious injury by vehicle, possession of a schedule 1 controlled substance and reckless driving.
Presiding Superior Court Judge Emory Palmer wasted no time and sentenced Semo after the verdict.
The man was sentenced to 45 years to serve 40 years in a state prison....
Read more here... [LaGrange Daily News]

Teen pleads guilty to attempted armed robberyMay 23, 2017
An 18-year-old man and alleged gang member pleaded guilty in a Troup County Superior Courtroom Monday morning.
Derrean Demetrius Tucker was accused of attempting to rob two Hispanic men in the front yard of their home in August 2016.
He was originally charged with eight counts of violating the street gang terrorism and prevention act, criminal attempted armed robbery,
aggravated assault and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony crime.
Read more here... [LaGrange Daily News]

Newnan man faces more time for child pornMay 21, 2017
A Newnan man currently serving a federal sentence for child pornography will now serve an additional 19 years in prison alongside his existing sentence.
Emmett Winston Smith, 68, was sentenced 30 years to serve 19 by Judge Emory Palmer during a bench trial in Coweta County Superior Court. The new sentence
will run concurrent with his federal sentence....
Read more here... [Newnan Times-Herald]

Tyrail Wynn Murder CaseMay 16, 2017
Today, Tyrail Arrenzo Wynn entered guilty pleas to Murder, Feticide, Aggravated Assault, Cruelty to Children in the First Degree,
Tampering with Evidence, and Possession of Marijuana. Judge Dennis Blackmon sentenced the defendant to Life in prison for the murder
of Nakita Holland, Life in prison for Feticide, and a total of twenty years on the remaining charges. Under Georgia law, the defendant
will not be eligible for parole until he has served at least thirty (30) years in prison....
Download the entire Press Release here.

Victims' Rights Week highlighted with blood driveMay 14, 2017
In honor of Victims' Rights Week, the Coweta County District Attorney's Office recently hosted their annual blood drive.
Sponsored by the Victim Assistance Program at the Coweta County District Attorney's Office, several members of the community, law enforcement and public safety turned out to give blood on April 27....
Read more here... [Newnan Times-Herald]

Two sentenced in jail beatingMay 3, 2017
Two men accused of attacking another inmate inside the Troup County Jail pleaded guilty Tuesday morning inside a Troup County Superior Courtroom.
Kenderick Jamal Smith, 24 and Joe Dequavious Weldon, 22, were each charged with one count of aggravated assault and one count of influencing a witness....
Read more here... [LaGrange Daily News]

Victims' Rights Week blood drive set for April 27April 21, 2017
The Coweta County District Attorney's Office Victim Assistance Program is hosting its fifth annual blood drive next week at the Coweta County Justice Center and is asking the community to come out and learn more about their victims' rights program.
To honor victims and increase awareness about victims' rights, the victim assistance program has organized its Red Cross Blood Drive on April 27.
From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., volunteers will be able to meet inside Cranford Hall at the Coweta County Justice Center at 72 Greenville St. and donate blood....
Read more here... [Newnan Times-Herald]

DA's office aims to combat hungerApril 1, 2017
According to Georgia's Food Bank Network, 1 in 4 Georgia children don't have enough to eat, which means more than 1.8 million Georgians need food assistance every year.
To help combat the trend, members from the Coweta County Judicial Circuit will once again participate in the "Georgia Legal Food Frenzy."
The annual contest has judicial circuits from around the state competing to see who can raise the most money and food for their community....
Read more here... [Newnan Times-Herald]

Driver sentenced in vehicular homicidesApril 13, 2017
On Wednesday morning, two families described the raw and permanent outcomes drunk driving has caused in their lives.
In Coweta Superior Court, the families of Neil Fernander and William Johnson listened as Katie Renee Pyles pleaded guilty to two counts of vehicular homicide, driving under the influence, failure to stop at a stop sign and open container.
In a non-negotiated plea, Judge Travis Sakrison sentenced Pyles to a 30-to-serve-25 years sentence for her role in the deaths of Fernander and Johnson last summer....
Read more here... [Newnan Times-Herald]

'Food Frenzy' hits District Attorney's officeApril 12, 2017
Troup County Assistant District Attorneys' will take on a new case next week: fighting hunger in the community.
But prosecutors need help from local residents to achieve a positive verdict.
The Coweta Judicial Circuit, which includes the local D.A.'s office, will participate in the Georgia Legal Food Frenzy starting on April 17. This is the second year the group has joined the fundraiser.
The event pits other judicial circuits around Georgia against each other to see who can gather the most non-perishable food items and acquire the most money....
Read more here... [LaGrange Daily News]

Woman found guilty of defrauding charityMarch 22, 2017
LaGRANGE - It took a Troup County Superior Court jury less than 10 minutes to find an Alabama woman guilty of stealing more than $100,000 from a local non-profit organization and the Board of Education.
Annie Doris Gray, also known as Ann Spell, was found guilty on the 13 counts against her, including: seven counts of identity fraud, four counts of theft by deception, one count of theft by conversion and one count of forgery in the first degree.
Read more here... [LaGrange Daily News]

Man gets life in double murderFebruary 22, 2017
Jarico Deshun Brown will spend the rest of his life in prison for killing two men in 2014. Along with girlfriend Keyna Nneaka Sewell, Brown was charged with the murder of Allen Cantrell and Wes Watson back in October 2014....
Read more here... [Newnan Times-Herald]

Man who killed 3-month-old baby pleads guiltyFebruary 20, 2017
A man accused of abusing and killing the infant of his then-girlfriend pleaded guilty in a Troup County Superior Court last week. Brandon Lamonte Heard, 31, was charged with murder, aggravated assault and cruelty to children in the first degree for the death of Skylar King in August 2015....
Read more here... [LaGrange Daily News]

4 sentenced in McGregor Street murderFebruary 18, 2017
Almost two years after Tony Kennedy, 21, was gunned down in an east LaGrange neighborhood, his killers pleaded guilty to the charges against them in a Troup County Superior Courtroom early this week....
Read more here... [LaGrange Daily News]

DA's office takes aim at alleged gang leaders, membersFebruary 2, 2017
Alleged members of the local Bloods criminal street gang are facing numerous charges for crimes throughout Troup County.
The document contains at least 11 defendants and 38 criminal charges - though not every person listed in the indictment is charged in all of the counts....
Read more here... [LaGrange Daily News]

Gang member gets 20 years for armed robberyJanuary 29, 2017
A suspected gang member is now heading to prison after pleading guilty to armed robbery.
In a negotiated plea, Judge Travis Sakrison sentenced Marquez Bernard Smith to 40 years with a minimum of 20 years in prison for armed robbery and two counts of Violation of the Street Gang Terrorism and Prevention Act.
Read more here... [Newnan Times-Herald]

Students learn law and orderJanuary 28, 2017
There were some new, fresh faces seated behind the state and defense attorney's tables on Wednesday inside a Troup County Superior Courtroom.
These lawyers did not pass the bar exam; in fact, these attorneys' have not yet graduated high school.
The teens are part of the inaugural LaGrange High School Mock Trial team. On Saturday, the group will square off against several area schools in their first mock trial competition.
Read more here... [LaGrange Daily News]

Prison time for bacon outburstJanuary 26, 2017
A man accused of getting into a physical altercation after a fast food restaurant put bacon on his burger will now be heading to prison.
Read more here... [Newnan Times-Herald]

Man sentenced on two counts of child molestationJanuary 26, 2017
A Coweta man charged with child molestation will be going to prison for the next 19 years. James Matthew Turner, 28, pleaded guilty to two counts of child molestation on Monday.
Read more here... [Newnan Times-Herald]